Monday, June 30, 2008

Blissful Blueberry Muffins

I bought a pound of blueberries at the store on Friday so I could make some blueberry muffins. Little did I know that my husband would eat the entire pack of blueberries before I got to them. I bought some more yesterday at the store and then realized that I had some fresh, frozen huckleberries in the freezer that I needed to use up. I used the huckleberries leaving the fresh berries for my husband to eat, or perhaps to make into a pie later in the week. :)

When looking for a recipe for the muffins I went straight to my Baking Illustrated cookbook because I had remembered seeing a cinnamon sugar dipped muffin recipe in there that sounded divine. Boy am I glad I checked that book because these muffins were fabulous, so moist and flavorful. The cinnamon and sugar on top of the muffin really makes it stand out. I can't keep myself (or my husband) out of them. :)

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a standard 12 cup muffin tin and set aside.2. Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl until combined. Whisk the egg in second medium bowl until well-combined and light-colored, about 20 seconds. Add the sugar and whisk vigorously until thick and homogenous, about 30 seconds; add melted butter in 2 or 3 steps, whisking to combine after each addition. Add sour cream in 2 additions, whisking just to combine.3. Add the berries to the dry ingredients and gently toss just to combine. Add the sour cream mixture and fold with rubber spatula until the batter comes together and berries are evenly distributed, 25 to 30 seconds (small spots of flour may remain and the batter will be thick). Do not overmix.4. Use a large spoon sprayed with nonstick cooking spray to prevent sticking, divide the batter among the greased muffin cups. Bake until the muffins are light golden brown and a toothpick or skewer inserted into center of muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes, rotating pan from front to back halfway through the baking time. Invert the muffins onto a wire rack, stand the muffins upright, and cool 5 minutes.5. While muffins are cooling, mix sugar and ground cinnamon in small bowl and melt butter in small saucepan. After the baked muffins have cooled five minutes, working one at a time, dip the top of each muffin in melted butter and then cinnamon-sugar. (I was to scared to turn my precious little muffins upside down so I set them all close together on a cooling rack with a towel underneath and brushed on the butter using a pastry brush and then sprinkled on the cinnamon/sugar mixture. I also found that I only needed 1/2 of the butter and 1/2 of the cinnamon/sugar mixture that the recipe called for.) Set muffins upright on wire rack; serve.

Wow - they looks wonderful! I haven't baked with huckleberries so now I'm intrigued to find some to play with. You could even submit this to the Fruit Frenzy blogging event I'm hosting (and maybe win the giveaway prize too!) Details are in my blog :)